I noticed that an acquaintance on Facebook is supporting McCain/Palin! I don't know how else to say it other than that I think it is a shame for any Iranian to do so. I questioned her logic (or lack thereof). She said if Obama is elected then USA will lose its strength! I responded to her on her Facebook wall and to my surprise she deleted my response without any comment!
Hmm...Censorship within our own little semi-public media called Facebook Wall! Interesting concept.
Now we are continously subject to the censorship of the US media by the conservative right-wing republicans and the influential and powerful pro-Israeli politicians, lobbyist, and bankers. And we've seen how the fundamentalist mullahs have chocked/drown/cut (in some cases literally) the media and the dissent back home in Iran for years.
But this one felt personal. Why would anyone do such a thing? Intolerance? Weakness? Fear? Now I want everyone to read my response. So here is an edited and expanded version of it:
McCain and Palin are warmongers and religious fanatics. Palin thinks that invading Iraq was "will of god"! Killing people under the name of god. Sounds familiar? Iraq is in ruins; its people are murdered & raped, made homeless. The Iraqi civilian death toll is approaching 100,000 (www.antiwar.com/casualties).
"US lose its strength"? What strength? The strength to invade and destroy poor 3rd world countries like Iraq & Afghanistan, kill & rape their people and rub them of their resources? I don't want that kind of strength. No human being ever should.
During the last 8 years US has certainly lost a lot of strength: In Iraq alone, more than 4,000 Americans have died and over 30,000 Americans are wounded (www.iraqbodycount.org). International acceptance & respect for US and Americans is far lower than it was in Clinton's era, thanks to President Bush's wrong foreign policies, invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, arrest, imprisonment and torture of innocent people all over the world including in US under the excuse of anti-terrorism. The US economy is in crisis, the core of US financial system is falling apart. We the taxpayer Americans have to pay $700 billion to save the financial corporations that are supposedly the backbone of the US economy. People are losing their homes; in California alone there were 100,000 home foreclosures (300,000 nationwide) just in the month of August! Bush and his people wiped out the surplus they inherited and now we have one of the largest debts/deficits ever.
So under the Republican rule US is far weaker than it was before. If McCain/Palin are elected things are sure to get worse -- for the world, especially for the poor and unprivileged, and for the majority of Americans.
Farshid Ketabchi
Irvine, CA
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I wanted to add that I
by 1234woman (not verified) on Thu Sep 25, 2008 08:53 PM PDTI wanted to add that I support your other points on how the republicans have messed up and they will continue to be worse for Iran.
Although I support your
by 1234woman (not verified) on Thu Sep 25, 2008 08:47 PM PDTAlthough I support your political views as well (Go Obama/Biden!), I don't think you are right with your analysis of your friend's action.
I feel that there is HUGE confusions in the Iranian community as to what freedom of speech means and what censorship means.
Like another person said, what your friend did is 100% legitimate and it's not censorship. Censorship can only be done by a government or at least someone with HUGE power and privilege. Regular people can support censorship, but they CANNOT EXERCISE it. they can be intolerant but the can't censor.
This was the equivalent of someone coming to your house and hanging a picture of hitler and then protest when you take it down (of course, I'm not comparing Obama with hitler, never, ever).
despite all of this, I appreciate your effort in trying to talk to her about Obama vs. McCain. I hope Obama wins, otherwise the whole world will be going down the toilet:)
and I think we can all learn more by talking about freedom of speech and censorship more and I appreciate you bringing up your story.
2 kalameh ham az maadareh aroos
by Reza K. (not verified) on Thu Sep 25, 2008 03:30 PM PDTIrandokht Khaanoomeh azeez:
I call it as I see it.
Maybe my job is to hunt down BS, and not defending this guy or that guy. Or gal.
The fact that I didn´t have an issue with the rest of the article, should make you feel better, that maybe the rest of it passed my muster, at least as an opinion. I reserve my own opinion on it; at least for now.
Stay put.
Bebin iindafeh ash chegadeh sure bood keh khaan (or khaambaajee) ham fahmeed.
Luv,
Agha Reza
Agha Reza
by IRANdokht on Thu Sep 25, 2008 02:02 PM PDTIn hameh matlab ro vel kardi faghat censorship ro chasbidi?
Chera censorship ro bahaneh mikoni. Hala mikhay az Palin defaa koni, go for it! tell me why it's a good
idea to elect the republicans. You know I am confused about it too....
:0)
IRANdokht
Censorship??
by Reza K. (not verified) on Thu Sep 25, 2008 01:19 PM PDTwe are all masters of our domains!
You don´t have to provide a free forum for every idiot who wants to exercise his 1st Amendment rights baba!
Ageh injoori nabood,
Pas farda man myam baa zoghal roo divareh khoonat meeneveesam ´zendeh bad reza´!!
pakesh nakon, chon meesheh ´censorship´!!
so true
by IRANdokht on Wed Sep 24, 2008 05:34 PM PDTI also wonder what makes some of our friends not see the reality of what's going on in the world and still show support for the GOP.
Haven't we had enough problems caused by this bunch already? Isn't IRI stronger and a much bigger power in the region due to their military presence in Iraq and Afghanestan and the constant threats made by Israel and US?
If Bush had not hijacked the 2000 election, the world would have been a better place for everyone. Gore's plans to make US energy efficient and less dependent of the oil would have had many consequences here and in the world. The emphasis would have gone to enery efficiency and there wouldn't be a real estate bubble and subsequently a stock market crash. There'd be more green energy jobs, auto makers wouldn't have faced such a down time and so many people wouldn't have lost their jobs, a lot more stem cell research, hence maybe a step forward to find cures for many illnesses, no military presence in the middle east and millions of people there would have been spared.IRI would not have been influencial in the region either.
Why do they still hang on to failed domestic and foreign policies and why do they want to continue going in the wrong direction?
It's very puzzling to me too.
IRANdokht